I am back with more fotos. While munching on snacks that BIKSS brought home for me from BKK cos I couldn't go with him on this last trip. But we're planning on me tagging along to KL in Sept! I have identified the nearest Kenny Hills Bakery to the hotel. And it's a walkable distance. So I shall be sure to get me some more of those fine pastries that I discovered in Penang.
But I digress.
Fotos. Here. We went to the Salcedo Saturday Market in the "rich" part of town... and dared to try some street food there cos it looked decent and not like it was going to give us diarrhoea. It was a feeling. Don't ask me. You know, like if the area is clean and the vendors are well groomed and have protective gear (gloves etc) and the food is freshly fried / kept in warm cabinets then I'm not going to mind too much.
Whitebait n garlic in olive oil. Delicious. I'm throwing this on all my blanched veggies now.
Tried some pickled garlic. Not for me thanks. Next!
Roast beef... no I didn't have any - the queue was too long and I was already pretty full by the time we got to this stall.
Bibingka - I did have some of this. I enjoyed it.
Fluffy rice / sponge cake with cheese and salted egg yolk.
Grilled things - milkfish, salmon, squid... So they barbeque the stuff right there and then and it smells so good... but the smoke gets into your clothes your hair your nostrils.... I walked away pretty fast.
Top - the menu and prices of the stuff shown below
Translations : "Isaw" = intestines. "Betamax" = coagulated blood. "Bangus" = milkfish. "Pusit" = squid. "Panga" = fish collar (lit. jaw)
Tomato-stuffed milkfish is quite popular ...
Buko = young coconut
Cooked / grilled seafood, veggies, noodles and various pre-packed meals for those lazy Saturday nights when all anyone wants to do is sit in front of the telly with a TV dinner.
I thought this was going to be exciting. I mean, it was yummy, but it was nought but a sugared bready donut in the end. Still, the bread was light and fluffy and just the right amount of warm for an out-at-the-markets treat.
These are called Dynamite. It's a stuffed chillie wrapped in some wantan skin type sheet and deep fried.
Kwek-kwek - Quail eggs dipped in an orange flour and deep fried into golden balls, eaten with a gooey, sweet, starchy gravy.
There were other deep fried things on sale but I really couldn't stuff myself anymore.
Crispy pata - Deep-fried pig's trotters or knuckles-
I'm not a huge fan of pork so I gave it a miss.
Pork Maru is a pretty well known restuarant apparently
I can't say the veggies and fruits were terribly cheap. I was pretty surprised at the rather high prices.
And then there was another section of the market that was in the park proper! The whole thing was bigger than I thought it would be.
Afterwards we headed to the Venice Canal Grand Mall
The shops were largely empty cos everyone was just out on the bridges and by the 'canal' taking photos.
We did however find a Goldilocks stand - a popular traditional Filipino treats company that's popular with tourists who are looking to buy snacks home as "pasalubong" or souvenirs. I myself have received many many many Goldilocks boxes of Polvoron. Although now that I've seen the shop, I wonder why no one buys anything OTHER than polvoron. There are so many other treats to choose from. Needless to say, I bought me polvoNONE.
We also took a lovely stroll thru an upscale supermarket where I picked up more Ensaymadas from their bakery section (see top right corner of the pic below) as well as some packaged sauces / marinades so that I can re-create some of the dishes I tried there. Looking at this now reminds me that I had wanted to cook some Laing for the girls when they came over but I clear forgot all about it. Whoops.
The pic above, tho, is part of the aisle that contains packed meat, as you can see. 1/3 of that is spam. That's a lot of spam. The Filipinos sure love their spam. Just standing there and looking down that aisle almost gave me a heart attack.
We had dinner on Sat night at the Harbor View Restaurant just a stone's throw away from our hotel, literally out the driveway and 20 paces to the left. It's the only other thing in the cul de sac where our hotel sits.
The only othere thing there is a floating hotel.
We sat out on the pier and dined with the wind in our faces. It was pretty good, if pretty pricey. But hey, what's a vacation without living it up a little eh? My favourite thing was squid adobo, however this restaurant cooks theirs with a dash of coconut cream. Altho I think I would have preferred it in its original form, without the cream.
Pinakbet or pakbet is my favourite Filipino veggie dish. However this one was a little bit too salty. Essentially it's a sitr-fried mixed vegetable dish that is sauteed with bagoong or fermented shrimp paste. Which is the Filipino version of the Malay "belacan" which I am very comfortable with as a condiment. It's all over South East Asian cuisine. The flavour profile is slightly different, a little less pungent, sweeter for the added sugar, but overall, a fermented shrimp veggie stir fry.
Aside from that we had a huge bowl of fish and veggie soup. Too much ginger for my liking but the fish was seriously fresh!
Finally, the elusive Buko pie. CG was on about buko pie since the day we confirmed our tickets to Manila. You have to try it, she kept telling me. It's so good, all that coconut, layers and layers of young coconut in a pie! We didn't manage to find any till we were at the departure gate waiting for our return flight. But there it was in a tiny shop beside the souvenirs and chocolates. So the pastries are all in a fridge and you help yourself to what you want, pay for it, and then they'll pop it in the oven for you. "Come back in 30 mins" she said. We were lucky we had a lot of time before our flight, so we went ahead with it, and had us our buko pie. It *was* good, I admit. But perhaps because I'm not a huge fan of coconut, it wasn't life-changing for me. LOL.
And that's the end of the Manila Foto Dump! I hope you enjoyed it!
